Supreme Court’s Only Black Justice Resigns
After a decade on the Mississippi Supreme Court, Justice Fred L. Banks Jr., the court’s only black justice, is resigning to join a private law practice.
Banks, 59, is second most senior member of the nine-member court and was widely considered its most liberal justice. He frequently criticized the handling of death penalty cases, though he rarely voted to overturn them, and he was often in the minority on issues of damage lawsuits.
Banks said he will leave Oct. 31 to work for the Jackson law firm Phelps Dunbar LLP.
Gov. Ronnie Musgrove will name a replacement to serve until a special election can be held. Banks’ term expires in 2005.
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